Russia Loses 6% of GDP to Ecological Problems – Putin

Ecological problems are piling up in Russia and damaging the
country’s economy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday at a meeting
of the State Council for Ecological Development.

“Yearly damage to the economy amounts to 6 percent of gross
domestic product, and if we add the impact on people’s health – up to 15 percent,”
Putin said.

According to the president, the most serious problem is
pollution: Russia needs to decrease exhaust emissions into the atmosphere, water, and soil by using better technologies in the industrial sector.

“Some companies
are already implementing their environmental programs, but not all,” Putin
said.

Unauthorized dump
sites are another reason for concern. Currently the amount of waste stored at such dump sites exceeds 30
billion tons, Putin said.

“People are dumping waste where they see fit and how
they see fit, and such [unauthorized] dump sites occupy 48 thousand hectares” of land across the country, he said.

Current legislation is strong enough to tackle the problem, Putin added, but it has not come into force yet.